Pius Hadzide explains why Sports Ministry always attracts scandals

Former deputy Sports Minister Pius Hadzide has explained why the ministry has become a hub for scandals.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Monday night, Hadzide first highlighted the limited power of the Minister in controlling tbe various agencies it works with.

“There are peculiriaties at the Ministry that makes relationship management a little tricky. We work with stakeholders over whom we do not have total control. Such as the GFA, which is an independent association not an organ of state.”

“The Minister’s influence over for instance the Ghana Football, or Swimming Federation is limited because they have their own rules and if you go in too much, you stand accused of interference. While I other agencies, the Minister has full grasp of the agencies they work with.”

The Ministry has a notoriously high turnover.Since 1979, the country has had 28 Sports Minister’s. In that time, only 15 Finance Minister’s have been appointed.

More recently, the tenures have been marked by controversies at an alarming rate.

For every two substantive Minister’s, one tenure is marked by a visa racketeering, misappropiation, and other corruption allegations. That has been the case since 2001.

“The other leg of the problem, which I believe is a blessing rather than a curse, is the sheer amount of work that journalists do in that area.”

“You’ll find that there is dedicated attention to sports in this country. Across the other ministries, you dont find (spector-specific) programs like Agric programs or health programs (on radio or television) as much as sports journalists, like Muftawu Nabila Abdulai and Fentuo Tahiru, do.”

“So their eyes are always on the ball so when a pin drops, they are able to notice that something has gone amiss.”

“I suspect that if that was what was happening across other Ministries, the Sports Ministry would have paled into insignificance (presumably because the scandals from other Ministries would have been bigger).”

He made the comments in the wake of the 2026 World Cup VISA scandal, which has already seen the NSA Director General Suspended while calls for the sacking of the Sports Minister, continues to grow.